Tawassul as Genealogy: A Non-Authenticating Genealogical Mode in Twenty-First Century Aceh

• In Event: 327. Beyond Authentication: Genealogical Authority in Colonial and Postcolonial Indonesia. Sponsored by the Indonesia and Timor-Leste Studies Committee (ITLSC)

Abstract

Scholars of Islam often assume that Islamic genealogical idioms—that is, Sufi lineages, chains of hadith transmission, the genealogies of descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, etc.—produce their authoritative effects by establishing unbroken chains of human beings linked to an authenticating source, usually the Prophet Muhammad. But what of instances in which this unilineal, authenticating mode is not available?

This paper approaches this question through a historical ethnography of the descendants of Habib Abdurrahim, who have resided on Aceh’s west coast and claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammad since the late nineteenth century. These figures appear to lack the basic materials for claiming such genealogical authority. They have no documented genealogy, nor, at least until recently, an established Sufi lineage. Nonetheless, their genealogical claims and practices have been central to their influence, and only in the past decade has their genealogy been challenged. How is this possible?

The paper argues that Habib Abdurrahim’s descendants and followers participate in a genealogical imagination deeply shaped by tawassul, a ritual through which one establishes relationships with pious intermediaries. Tawassul often evokes the form, and sometimes the content, of authenticated lineages, while emphasizing relationships besides those of lineal descent. As such, it can provide a ground for assembling ad hoc collections of ancestors in a manner that sidesteps modern emphases on genealogical authentication. Tawassul as genealogy therefore represents one instance of the plural nature of Islamic genealogical idioms, and raises questions regarding the basis of genealogical authority more broadly in contemporary Indonesia.

Author

• Daniel Birchok, University of Michigan-Flint